Which to use
“bœufs” and “buis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,188
- “bœufs” frequency rank
- #28,864
- “buis” frequency rank
- 51052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bœufs | buis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bœuf. | Genre de la famille des Buxacées comprenant l’espèce Buxus sempervirens, arbrisseau sempervirent, dont le bois, jaunâtre et très dur, et surtout celui de sa racine sont d’un grand usage dans la tabletterie. → voir Buxus |
Where the eye mixes bœufs and buis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bœufs runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against buis's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: bœufs vs buis
A purely visual mix-up. bœufs (\bø\) and buis (\bɥi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bœufs is recorded at frequency rank #22,188, classified as anoun, pronounced \bø\. buis is at rank #28,864, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɥi\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 51052, this pair ranks #157,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bœufs vs buis
Shared letters: bsu. Private to "bœufs": fœ. Private to "buis": i.
"bœufs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "buis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- buis ← bbuis · bius · buiss · busi · ubis
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bœufs" for "buis" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "bœufs" or "buis" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bœufs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bœufs" and "buis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buis vs bury". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #157,960 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.